Re: DEWAR (Spelled correctly!), Chill out

Re: DEWAR (Spelled correctly!), Chill out

[Robert Dewar]

Michael Stark said

<<Dewar, chill out is a good thread title for those of us who remember
the posting a few years back about a satellite's (COBE, to be specific)
dewar running out of liquid helium. A dewar is essentially a thermos
bottle, and COBE's main experiment was looking at the cosmic background
radiation at 3 degrees K -- hence the need to cool the instrument to
that temperature.  Thus "chill out" is particularly appropriate, but
I hesitate to assign any deeper meaning to this ;)
>>


Dewar was the chemist who invented the thermos bottle. People often ask
me if I am related (since they know that my father was a world famous
chemist, and actually my degrees are also in chemistry), but that 
particular Dewar is not a relative.

He annoyed people not by sending internet messages :-) but by being
very secretive about his methods. The following is a rhyme of the
time:

  Professor Dewar 
  Is Clev'rer than you are
  None of you asses
  Can liquify gasses

:-)

I am also not related to the Dewar of Dewar Benzene, but the Michael
Dewar of Molecular Orbital fame was my father ...

People often find it interesting to read my father's autobiography (it
is in the ACS autobiography series). You will recognize some things
there, particularly the notion that strenuous argument (in which people
should not get emotionally involved please) is a good path to understanding
issues. I always find it interesting that, at least in the Oxford tradition
of English in which I was brought up, argument is a positive term, not
at all related to the word quarrel, whereas in the US, it seems a very
negative word, not far from quarrel :-)

Oh well a less related-to-GNAT thread is hard to imagine, but presumably
this is a thread that the dwinding few on CLA who are still interested
in technical Ada issues only have already killed (although the change
in subject means you have to kill it again!)

Re: DEWAR (Spelled correctly!), Chill out

[Larry Kilgallen]

In article <dewar.885510066@merv>, dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar) writes:

> People often find it interesting to read my father's autobiography (it
> is in the ACS autobiography series). You will recognize some things
> there, particularly the notion that strenuous argument (in which people
> should not get emotionally involved please) is a good path to understanding
> issues. I always find it interesting that, at least in the Oxford tradition
> of English in which I was brought up, argument is a positive term, not
> at all related to the word quarrel, whereas in the US, it seems a very
> negative word, not far from quarrel :-)

I also like vigorous technical debate, but doing it on a computer network
has the disadvantage of not making it clear if there are some who don't
"get it".  I have rather different experiences than others regarding the
"code ownership" issue, but not directly opposed to either extreme. As
a result, it does not seem worth the effort of trying to communicate.

Perhaps this networked medium has the effect of giving undue emphasis
to the extreme ends of any issue, leaving the impression there is nobody
left in the middle ground.

Larry Kilgallen

Re: DEWAR (Spelled correctly!), Chill out

[Nick Roberts]

The boy stood on the burning deck...

-- 

Nick Roberts
Croydon, UK

Proprietor, ThoughtWing Software; Independent Software Development
Consultant
* Nick.Roberts@dial.pipex.com * Voicemail & Fax +44 181-405 1124 *
*** Always game for a verbal joust (usually as the turkey) ***


Larry Kilgallen <kilgallen@eisner.decus.org> wrote in article
<1998Jan23.082126.1@eisner>...
> I also like vigorous technical debate, but doing it on a computer network
> has the disadvantage of not making it clear if there are some who don't
> "get it".  I have rather different experiences than others regarding the
> "code ownership" issue, but not directly opposed to either extreme. As
> a result, it does not seem worth the effort of trying to communicate.
> 
> Perhaps this networked medium has the effect of giving undue emphasis
> to the extreme ends of any issue, leaving the impression there is nobody
> left in the middle ground.

DEWAR (Spelled correctly!), Chill out

[Sam Harbaugh, Palm Bay, Florida]

Dr. Dewar doesn't need me to defend him but I would like to point out to
the recent complainers that the Ada world is damn lucky to have Robert's
energy and abilities so readily available.  You would have to pay through
the nose to have access to such knowledge on the open market.

Re: DEWAR (Spelled correctly!), Chill out

[Jean D. Ichbiah]

Friends and Colleagues,

It is a moral duty to come to the rescue of someone
as defenseless as Robert:

> People often find it interesting to read my father's autobiography (it
> is in the ACS autobiography series). You will recognize some things
> there, particularly the notion that strenuous argument (in which people
> should not get emotionally involved please) is a good path to understanding
> issues. I always find it interesting that, at least in the Oxford tradition
> of English in which I was brought up, argument is a positive term, not
> at all related to the word quarrel, whereas in the US, it seems a very
> negative word, not far from quarrel :-)

I cannot remember a single strenuous argument with Robert in
which he did not end up agreeing with me!




Jean Ichbiah
Textware Solutions
ichbiah@twsolutions.com
http://www.twsolutions.com

Re: DEWAR (Spelled correctly!), Chill out

[Robert Dewar]

Jean said

<<I cannot remember a single strenuous argument with Robert in
which he did not end up agreeing with me!
>>

Gosh that's odd, I have exactly the same impression :-)

Perhaps, strenuous argument is after all useful :-) :-)

Re: DEWAR (Spelled correctly!), Chill out

[Jerry van Dijk]

Jean D. Ichbiah <ichbiah@twsolutions.com> schreef in artikel
<34d891ea.15839537@news.tiac.net>...

> It is a moral duty to come to the rescue of someone
> as defenseless as Robert:

I guess this statement deserves a bottle of you know what :-) :-)

-- 
-- Jerry van Dijk | Leiden, Holland
-- Team Ada       | email: jdijk@acm.org

Re: DEWAR (Spelled correctly!), Chill out

[Jean D. Ichbiah]

On 3 Feb 1998 08:17:37 -0500, dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)
wrote:

> Jean said
> 
> <<I cannot remember a single strenuous argument with Robert in
> which he did not end up agreeing with me!
> >>
> 
> Gosh that's odd, I have exactly the same impression :-)

We, language lawyers, tend to be very precise with
the way we express ourselves.  Only a green beginner
would fail to see that

"he ended up agreeing with me"

is miles away from either of

"he ended up agreeing with my initial viewpoint"
"I ended up agreeing with his initial viewpoint"

The meaning is very precise and for those who need
language commentaries it really means that the strenuous
discussion led to a viewpoint that was agreeable to both.



Jean Ichbiah
Textware Solutions
ichbiah@twsolutions.com
http://www.twsolutions.com